I took Havs over to a friend's house to play with her pack of hounds. Havs had met most of the dogs individually and on beach trips. Well they all ganged up on him and rolled him. He got out of the scrum and ran behind us. We put him in the truck and left. Our friend still thinks that we were overprotective but Havs was not having fun.

It sounds to me like the other other dog owners were being irresponsible. My husky is a dominating dog. He does the shoulder hug thing and bullys dogs or humps them. I never allowed it; always corrected him. I don't go any more because I don't think my corrections or scolding did much. I'm on your side on this one...

It sounds to me like the other other dog owners were being irresponsible. My husky is a dominating dog. He does the shoulder hug thing and bullys dogs or humps them. I never allowed it; always corrected him. I don't go any more because I don't think my corrections or scolding did much. I'm on your side on this one...

It sounds like they're irresponsible because we're getting the story from the one side. On the other side the story might go, "My dog's were having fun playing with this other GSD and then their owners came over and yelled at us because our dogs were playing a little rough."

OP, you did the right thing by getting your dog out of there, but in my opinion you might've crossed the line by exchanging words. Remember, dog parks are public, and each one of us has a different idea of what "acceptable play" is and because you think those dogs are too rough, doesn't mean everyone else does. My dog will play rough, I will stop him when I think its too much, I will also leave the park myself if any other dog is getting too rough with my dog. I won't say anything though because I know my dog plays too rough for other people's tastes.

In my opinion...unless a real fight is breaking out, its hard to tell when dogs truly are "ganging up" and trying to hurt another dog. From my experience its also useless to yell at people or have words with them because that will just make everyone mad. At the same time you risk the chance that you're actually in the wrong and then very quickly get treated very poorly at the dog park by the regular visitors that start to know each other. Dog parks get very political, clicky, and its not very fun when no one really wants you there lol.

It sounds like they're irresponsible because we're getting the story from the one side. On the other side the story might go, "My dog's were having fun playing with this other GSD and then their owners came over and yelled at us because our dogs were playing a little rough."

OP, you did the right thing by getting your dog out of there, but in my opinion you might've crossed the line by exchanging words. Remember, dog parks are public, and each one of us has a different idea of what "acceptable play" is and because you think those dogs are too rough, doesn't mean everyone else does. My dog will play rough, I will stop him when I think its too much, I will also leave the park myself if any other dog is getting too rough with my dog. I won't say anything though because I know my dog plays too rough for other people's tastes.

In my opinion...unless a real fight is breaking out, its hard to tell when dogs truly are "ganging up" and trying to hurt another dog. From my experience its also useless to yell at people or have words with them because that will just make everyone mad. At the same time you risk the chance that you're actually in the wrong and then very quickly get treated very poorly at the dog park by the regular visitors that start to know each other. Dog parks get very political, clicky, and its not very fun when no one really wants you there lol.

I agree with this.

Kira was never good for dog parks. The couple times I attempted, she became prey. I could very easily have blamed the other owners for not restraining their dogs, but instead chose to remove her before any further damage.

I took Havs over to a friend's house to play with her pack of hounds. Havs had met most of the dogs individually and on beach trips. Well they all ganged up on him and rolled him. He got out of the scrum and ran behind us. We put him in the truck and left. Our friend still thinks that we were overprotective but Havs was not having fun.

Don't forget about pack behavior!

Any new dog coming into an established group of other dogs is likely yo be "picked on" - usually much better to introduce the new guy individually and then maybe 2 of the new ones and him.. Likely to go a lot smoother that way.

I just don't understand dog parks.
I guess they go with the new way of thinking that dogs are not animals, but humans in fur coats.
People think their puppies need to play with others, just as human children do.

What they don't think about is that the dogs in parks are of all ages.

So it is as if you are bringing your toddler to "play" with older kids, and young and old adults, and the occasional delinquent teenagers.

I wouldn't bring my small child to interact with teens who are cussing, smoking, and bullying others.
I wouldn't bring my puppy to a dog park, either.

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Norden von Narnia (Hans) 1-15-2012 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I obviously wasn't with the OP that day and will not pass judgement, but I disagree with the general disdain towards dog parks in this thread. We live 2 blocks from a big city-owned field that is used mostly as an off leash dog park and I have taken my dogs there thousands of times over the years.

I believe that letting your dog run off leash around other dogs and people when they are young is absolutely priceless in socializing them into a happy, normal, and well-balanced dog. They need to burn up energy, learn how to rough house and yes, defend themselves on occasion. You have to keep a close eye so things don't get out hand but sometimes a challenging situation can be a good learning experience in my book. This is how we grow. And frankly we are talking about German Shepherds here, which are a large and highly intelligent breed that should have no troubles handling themselves in the general public. I'm not claiming to be an expert or telling other people how to raise their dogs, just sharing my philosphy.

When i started taking mine to parks i checked out all the parks in my area we have five or so but she eventually thought she was the queen of any park she went in that was small with a fenced in area. When i saw she would embrace any kind of challenge I never took her back. SHe was not like that at first she changed over time as she matured mentally and began thinking every dog was her inferior as she came close to 3.

remember now your dog is getting picked on the future he may pick on another dog and it will be you that has to save the other dog from him and owners will be pissed at you. Hes only 8 months old.

Please tell me the truth if we were being overly-sensitive, and if this was just normal.

IMO, you were being prudent and I would have done the exact same thing. And at the same time, this *was* just normal - 'normal' being that you never know what will happen when you're at the dog park. But you have a good grasp on the situation: you know when your dog isn't enjoying himself, and you'll leave if it looks like it might turn nasty.

I've felt that people are judging me sometimes, believing that I'm going overboard in my proactive protectiveness of my puppy. I usually don't care what other people think, but on the off-chance that it matters to me, I say that I have to be very careful with my puppy, because I don't want him to turn into one of "those" GSDs, since everyone (myself included) has had some bad experience. They always nod in agreement with that, lol.

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